Crusher

ABSTRACT

The bearings for the rotor of a crusher are positioned substantially in the end walls of a rotary drum concentrically surrounding the rotor, one of the bearings being mounted on a fixed support extending to an opening in one end wall, and the other bearing being mounted in the other end wall.

United States Patent Lucas [4 June 20, 1972 CRUSHER [56] ReferencesCited [72] Inventor: Robert Lucas, Paris, France UNITED STATES PATENTS[73] Assignee: Fives Lille-Call, Paris, France 440,537 1 1/1890 Boyd etal. ..241/87 X 3,537,658 11/1970 Jurgenjanich. .....241/54 X [221 July1970 1,076,061 10/1913 Guenner ....241/1ss x [21] Appl. NO.: 56,279427,228 5/1890 Finney... ....241/188 X 726,511 4/1903 Curtis ..24l/54 X[30] Foreign Application Prhrlty Dam Primary Examiner-Granville Y.Custer, Jr.

July 23, 1969 France ..e92s03s Mama-Km Kelma" 52 us. Cl. ..24l/l88 R,241/285 R [57] ABSTRACT [51 1 802C 1 The bearings for the rotor of acrusher are positioned substan- [58] Field of Search ..24l/54, 56, 85,86, 87, 185 R, tially in the end walls of a rotary drum concentricallysur- 241/186 R, 188 R, 191, 285 R rounding the rotor, one of thebearings being mounted on a fixed support extending to an opening in oneend wall, and the other bearing being mounted in the other end wall.

7 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures CRUSHER The present invention relates toimprovements in crushers wherein a rotor is mounted for rotation about ahorizontal axis, a plurality of radially extending crushing elements areon the rotor, and a rotary drum concentrically surrounds the rotor.

In known crushers of this type, the bearings for the rotor shaft arepositioned outside the drum, which makes the shaft long and requires therotary speed of the rotor to be limited for reasons of safety.

It is the primary object of this invention to overcome this disadvantageand to provide rotor bearings which are at least substantially in theplanes of the end walls of the drum. This permits the rotor shaft to berelatively short and correspondingly to increase the speed of rotationthereof, which enhances the efficiency of the crushing operation.

The above and other objects and advantages are accomplished inaccordance with the invention by providing a first bearing for the rotorpositioned substantially in the plane of the one drum end wall in anopening in the wall, the one end wall defining inlet opening means forfeeding material to be crushed into the interior of the drum and air forevacuating crushed material from the interior of the drum. A fixedsupport extends to the end wall opening and the first bearing is mountedon the fixed support A second bearing for the rotor is mounted in theother end wall of the drum which is flat. The cylindrical wall of thedrum defines outlet opening means for discharging the crushed materialand the air.

The above and other features of the present invention will become moreapparent in the following description of a now preferred embodiment,taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein FIG. 1 is alongitudinal section of the crusher; and

FIG. 2 is a partial end view of the crusher, viewing the left end ofFIG. 1, half of the figure showing a transverse cross section of thecrusher.

Referring now to the drawing, there is seen a rotary drum mounted forrotation about a horizontal axis and concentrically surrounding a rotor12 disposed coaxially in the interior of the drum. A plurality ofradially extending crushing elements illustrated as hammers 40 aremounted on the rotor, the hammers being pivotally supported on axiallyextending axles 42 which are carried by rotor 12. The rotor consists ofshaft 38 to which are keyed a plurality of adjacent discs 36 whose hubsmaintain annular guide channels between adjacent discs for guiding thehammers during their pivotal movement about axles 42.

The rotary drum 10 has a cylindrical wall 14 of sheet metal which islined interiorly by protective plates 16 which have axially extendingribs 16a defining axially extending channels 24 therebetween.

An annular partition wall 18 divides the interior of the drum into amajor crushing chamber and a minor discharge chamber. Regularly spacedoutlet openings or ports 20 in the cylindrical drum wall 14 in thedischarge chamber open into a fixed hood or casing 22 which surroundsthis portion of the drum. The ribs 16 extend only through the crushingchamber of the drum, i.e. up to the partition wall 18.

A journal or trunnion 26 of large diameter is welded or otherwisesuitably affixed to the cylindrical wall of the drum at one end thereof.The other end of the drum is closed by a bottom or end wall 28 of sheetmetal which is similarly welded or otherwise affixed to the cylindricaldrum wall. A tubular trunnion or journal 30 is bolted or otherwisesuitably affixed to the bottom wall 28. The trunnions 26 and 30 arerotatably mounted on bearings 32 and 34, respectively.

One end of rotor shaft 38 is joumaled in bearing 44 which is joumaled intrunnion 30. The other end of the rotor shaft is joumaled in bearing 46affixed to a fixed gooseneck support 48 which extends to a recess oropening in the one end wall of the drnrn. A sheet metal web 50 affixedto the support 48 closes off the opening in the one end wall of the drumand extends to the trunnion 26.

A pair of feed funnels or channels 52, 52 are disposed on respectivesides of the fixed support 48 to provide inlet opening means forintroducing material to be crushed and evacuating air for the crushedmaterial into the interior of the drum, registering openings in thesheet metal web 50 being provided for these funnels.

A pinion 54 is affixed to the tubular trunnion 30 so that the drum maybe rotated by a chain drive (not shown) engaging the pinion. The rotorshaft is coupled to a suitable motor means (not shown) for rotation.

If desired, the bearing 32 may be replaced by rollers supporting thecylindrical drum wall and operated to rotate the drum. In this case, theroller bearings may have rubber linings or tires for frictional drivingengagement with the cylindrical drum wall.

The crusher operates as follows:

The drum l0 and rotor 12 are rotated in the same or op positedirections. The material to be cnlshed and the evacuating air areintroduced through feed funnels 52. In the interior of the drum, thematerial is lifted by the axial channels 24 and falls back on the rotor12 which turns at great speed. Thus, the material is subjected severaltimes to the impact of the pivoting hammers in the crushing chamber.When the material has attained a given degree of comrninution, it isentrained by the evacuating air stream in the interior of the drum anddischarged with the air through outlet ports 20 into the hood 22.

The dwell time of the material in the drum is controlled by the radiusof the annular partition wall 18.

It is thus possible to extend the dwell time in the drum beyond that inconventional hammer mills, which permits the obtention of a largerproportion of finely milled or crushed material. Furthermore, thecrusher of the present invention also reduces the wear on the hammersbecause it suppresses the crushing of the material by attrition betweenthe hammers and the grill of conventional hammer mills.

When it is desired to use the crusher as a mill and drier, the therrnicexchange coefficient between the hot evacuating gas supplied to the drumand the material to be crushed is particularly high by virtue of theintense stirring which the channels 24 and the rotor 12 impose upon thematerial during its treatment in the drum. In this case, the bearing 46of the rotor which is situated near the entrance of the hot gas islubricated and cooled by circulating oil or an air current suitablyintroduced into the interior of support 48.

The crusher of this invention is particularly useful for crushing anddrying products before they are finally milled, thus reducing the powerrequirements of the final mill.

I claim:

1. In a crusher having a rotor mounted on two axially spaced bearingsabout a horizontal axis, a plurality of radially extending crushingelements on the rotor, and a rotary drum concentrically surrounding therotor, the drum consisting of a cylindrical wall and two end walls, oneof the end walls defining inlet opening means for feeding material to becrushed into the interior of the drum and air for evacuating crushedmaterial from the interior of the drum, the improvement which comprises:

a. a trunnion of large diameter at said one end wall of the drum,

b. a first one of the rotor bearings positioned substantially in theplane of the one drum end wall,

I. the first bearing being concentric with the trunnion and definingtherewith an annular opening of large diameter to form the inlet openingmeans, and

c. a fixed support outside and independent of the drum and extendinginto the end wall opening,

I. the first bearing being mounted on the fixed support.

2. In the crusher of claim 1, rollers supporting the drum at said oneend wall.

3. In the crusher of claim I, wherein the fixed support is of gooseneckshape.

6. In the crusher of claim 5, an annular partition dividing the interiorof the drum into a major crushing chamber and a minor discharge chamber,and the cylindrical wall of the drum defining outlet opening means inthe discharge chamber for discharging the crushed material and the air.

7. In the crusher of claim 1, protective plates lining the cylindricalwall of the drum and axially extending ribs on the plates definingaxially extending channels therebetween.

1. In a crusher having a rotor mounted on two axially spaced bearings about a horizontal axis, a plurality of radially extending crushing elements on the rotor, and a rotary drum concentrically surrounding the rotor, the drum consisting of a cylindrical wall and two end walls, one of the end walls defining inlet opening means for feeding material to be crushed into the interior of the drum and air for evaCuating crushed material from the interior of the drum, the improvement which comprises: a. a trunnion of large diameter at said one end wall of the drum, b. a first one of the rotor bearings positioned substantially in the plane of the one drum end wall,
 1. the first bearing being concentric with the trunnion and defining therewith an annular opening of large diameter to form the inlet opening means, and c. a fixed support outside and independent of the drum and extending into the end wall opening,
 1. the first bearing being mounted on the fixed support.
 2. In the crusher of claim 1, rollers supporting the drum at said one end wall.
 3. In the crusher of claim 1, wherein the fixed support is of gooseneck shape.
 4. In the crusher of claim 1, wherein a closure wall is affixed to the fixed support for partially closing the annular opening, and further comprising at least one feed channel registering with openings in the closure for feeding the material into the interior of the drum.
 5. In the crusher of claim 1, wherein the second one of the rotor bearings is mounted in the other end wall of the drum and includes a tubular trunnion on the other end wall, a fixed bearing supporting the tubular trunnion, and a rotor bearing journaled in the tubular trunnion.
 6. In the crusher of claim 5, an annular partition dividing the interior of the drum into a major crushing chamber and a minor discharge chamber, and the cylindrical wall of the drum defining outlet opening means in the discharge chamber for discharging the crushed material and the air.
 7. In the crusher of claim 1, protective plates lining the cylindrical wall of the drum and axially extending ribs on the plates defining axially extending channels therebetween. 